• Abstract

    Dropout is a problem that has been observed in all developed and underdeveloped countries and has been researched by many researchers. Referring to the UNICEF Annual Report 2023, it shows that one of the problems experienced by children is dropping out of school or not continuing school. This article aims to explore the narrative of children dropping out of school in villages that occur in various regions.  This article will also identify the factors that cause children to drop out of school and the impact that occurs when children drop out of school. This study uses a systematic review method with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) approach. This approach is used to collect, assess, and critically synthesize relevant research results regarding the narrative of school dropouts in villages. The results obtained were categorized into three levels, namely,micro, meso, and macro. At the micro level, factors such as family condition and peer influence play an important role. At the meso level, the surrounding environment also makes a significant contribution. For example, a community that does not attach importance to education or the absence of supporting facilities. At the macro level, structural problems such as the lack of adequate educational facilities and infrastructure are the main barriers. Then, the impact of school dropouts is very broad and profound. At the individual level, children who do not complete primary education have a smaller chance of getting a decent job in the future, which ultimately perpetuates the cycle of poverty.

  • References

    1. Abid, S., Ali, S. M., & Ali, I. (2021). A basic right denied: The interplay between various factors contributing to school dropouts in Pakistan. Frontiers in Education, 6, Article 682579. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.682579
    2. Akinyemi, J. O., Afolabi, R. F., & Awolude, O. A. (2016). Patterns and determinants of dropout from maternity care continuum in Nigeria. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 16(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-1083-9
    3. Alabdulrazaq, A., & Abdul Abdullah Mutalib Azlina Binti, M. H. (2019). Determinants of middle class school dropout among boys in the Riyadh Province of Saudi Arabia. Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews, 7(6), 662–667. https://doi.org/10.18510/hssr.2019.76100
    4. Antunes, F., & Lúcio, J. (2019). Overcoming barriers: The local and innovative dimensions of inclusive socio-educational practices. Multidisciplinary Journal of Educational Research, 9(2), 120–143. https://doi.org/10.17583/remie.2019.4200
    5. Antunez, A., Valdemoros, M. A., Saies, E., & Arruza, J. A. (2020). Engagement SPIRALS in elementary students: A school-based self-regulated learning approach. Sustainability, 12(9), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093698
    6. Auerbach, R. P. et al. 2016. “Mental Disorders among College Students in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys.” Psychological Medicine 46(14): 2955–70.
    7. Azorín, C. (2020). Beyond COVID-19 supernova. Is another education coming? Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 5(3–4), 381–390. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-05-2020-0020
    8. Bau, N., Das, J., & Yi Chang, A. (2021). New evidence on learning trajectories in a low-income setting. International Journal of Educational Development, 84, 102430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102430
    9. Bayón-Calvo, S., Corrales-Herrero, H., & De Witte, K. (2020). Assessing regional performance against early school leaving in Spain. International Journal of Educational Research, 99, 101515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2019.101515
    10. Bembich, C. (2023). Equity in learning paths and contrast to early school leaving: The complexity of the factors involved in the school experiences of foreign students. Frontiers in Education, 8, Article 1173904. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1173904
    11. Berria, J., Fernandes, J. P., Berria, R., & Lopes, F. (2018). Predictors of dropout in the school-based multi-component intervention, ‘Mexa-se.’ Health Education Research, 33(4), 280–291. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyy022
    12. Brown, K. J., Haer, R., & Østby, G. (2023). Local food price volatility and school dropout in Sub-Saharan Africa. Population and Development Review, 49(3), 443–468. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12567
    13. Carrión, R. G., Molina Luque, F., & Molina Roldán, S. (2018). How do vulnerable youth complete secondary education? The key role of families and the community. Journal of Youth Studies, 21(5), 701–716. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2017.1406660
    14. Di Maio, M., & Nisticò, R. (2019). The effect of parental job loss on child school dropout: Evidence from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Journal of Development Economics, 141, 102375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.102375
    15. Dupéré, V., Dion, E., Leventhal, T., Archambault, I., Crosnoe, R., & Janosz, M. (2018). High school dropout in the proximal context: The triggering role of stressful life events. Child Development, 89(2), e107–e122. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12792
    16. EL Alaoui, A., Sigamoney, N., & Dogra, A. (2021). Students’ perceptions of leaving early school: A Moroccan case study. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 4(1), 100203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2021.100203
    17. Etongwe, D. (2018). Encouraging girl child education in my village. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 6(2), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v6i2.72
    18. Flor, L. S., Friedman, J., Spencer, C. N., Cagney, J., Arrieta, A., Herbert, M. E., Stein, C., Mullany, E. C., Hon, J., Patwardhan, V., Barber, R. M., Collins, J. K., Hay, S. I., Lim, S. S., Lozano, R., Mokdad, A. H., Murray, C. J. L., & Dieleman, J. L. (2022). Quantifying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality on health, social, and economic indicators: A comprehensive review of data from March, 2020, to September, 2021. The Lancet, 399(10344), 2381–2397. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00008-3
    19. Fortin, L., Marcotte, D., Potvin, P., Royer, É., & Joly, J. (2006). Typology of students at risk of dropping out of school: Description by personal, family and school factors. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 21(4), 363–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173425
    20. Garcia, A. L., Lane, T. B., & Rincón, B. E. (2021). Cultivating graduate STEM pathways: How alliance-based STEM enrichment programs broker opportunity for students of color. Frontiers in Education, 6, Article 667976. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.667976
    21. Garrett-Peters, P. T., Mokrova, I. L., Carr, R. C., & Vernon-Feagans, L. (2017). Early student (dis)engagement: Contributions of household chaos, parenting, and self-regulatory skills. In Forensic Psychiatry: Fundamental Clinical Practices (pp. 51–61). https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315380797
    22. Guzmán, A., Barragán, S., & Cala Vitery, F. (2021). Dropout in rural higher education: A systematic review. Frontiers in Education, 6, Article 747506. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.747506
    23. Guzmán, A., Barragán, S., & Cala-Vitery, F. (2022). Comparative analysis of dropouts and student permanence in rural higher education. Sustainability, 14(14), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148871
    24. Indonesia’s diurnal SDG. (informação insuficiente para formatação APA – necessário autor, ano, fonte e link)
    25. Khan, S. (2024). Female education and marriage in Pakistan: The role of financial shocks and marital customs. World Development, 173, 106413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106413
    26. Kidman, R., Breton, E., Behrman, J., & Kohler, H. P. (2022). Returning to school after COVID-19 closures: Who is missing in Malawi? International Journal of Educational Development, 93, 102645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102645
    27. Korpershoek, H., Canrinus, E. T., Fokkens-Bruinsma, M., & de Boer, H. (2020). The relationships between school belonging and students’ motivational, social-emotional, behavioural, and academic outcomes in secondary education: A meta-analytic review. Research Papers in Education, 35(6), 641–680. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2019.1615116
    28. Küçüker, E. (2018). Reasons for dropouts of girls from the formal secondary education living in rural areas. Education and Science, 43(195), 97–117. https://doi.org/10.15390/eb.2018.7537
    29. Lázaro Álvarez, N., Callejas, Z., & Griol, D. (2020). Predicting computer engineering students’ dropout in Cuban higher education with pre-enrollment data. Journal of Technology and Science Education, 10(2), 241–258. https://doi.org/10.3926/jotse.921
    30. Maji, K., & Sarkar, S. (2018). Comparative analysis of educational attainment among different social groups in some selected Mouzas of Saltora C.D. Block of Bankura District, West Bengal, India: An empirical study. Space and Culture, India, 6(1), 72–90. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v6i1.308
    31. Márquez-Vera, C., Cano, A., Romero, C., Noaman, A. Y., Fardoun, H. M., & Ventura, S. (2016). Early dropout prediction using data mining: A case study with high school students. Expert Systems, 33(1), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/exsy.12135
    32. Mendieta, G. N., de los Ángeles Guamán Coronel, M., Marín, M. I. A., & Coronel, D. C. G. (2020). Virtual classrooms as pedagogical mediation for inclusion and disabilities. Publicaciones de la Facultad de Educación y Humanidades del Campus de Melilla, 50(2), 31–39. https://doi.org/10.30827/publicaciones.v50i2.13941
    33. Millet, M., & Thin, D. (2021). A constrained private world: The families of school dropouts and their relationships to institutions. Politix, 130(2), 23–45. https://doi.org/10.3917/pox.130.0023
    34. Mokoena, P., & van Breda, A. D. (2021). School dropout among female learners in rural Mpumalanga, South Africa. South African Journal of Education, 41(3), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v41n3a1842
    35. Morgan, A. K., Agyemang, S., Dogbey, E., Arimiyaw, A. W., & Owusu, A. F. S. (2022). “We were girls but suddenly became mothers”: Evaluating the effects of teenage motherhood on girl’s educational attainment in the Volta Region. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2022.2036312
    36. Murphy-Graham, E., Pacheco Montoya, D., Cohen, A. K., & Valencia Lopez, E. (2021). Examining school dropout among rural youth in Honduras: Evidence from a mixed-methods longitudinal study. International Journal of Educational Development, 82, 102329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102329
    37. Nash, K., O’Malley, G., Geoffroy, E., Schell, E., Bvumbwe, A., & Denno, D. M. (2019). “Our girls need to see a path to the future” - Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health information among adolescent girls, guardians, and initiation counselors in Mulanje District, Malawi. Reproductive Health, 16(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-018-0661-x
    38. Nita, A. M., Motoi, G., & Ilie Goga, C. (2021). School dropout determinants in rural communities: The effect of poverty and family characteristics. Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala, 74, 19–32. https://doi.org/10.33788/rcis.74.2
    39. OECD. (2016). Education at a glance 2016: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/eag-2016-en
    40. Orgill-Meyer, J. (2020). Interaction of village and school latrines on educational outcomes in India. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 10(4), 618–627. https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2020.049
    41. Pascoe, M. C., Hetrick, S. E., & Parker, A. G. (2020). The impact of stress on students in secondary school and higher education. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 104–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1596823
    42. Pike, I., & Grant, M. (2022). Gifting relationships and school dropout in rural Malawi: Examining differences by gender and poverty level. Studies in Family Planning, 53(1), 173–192. https://doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12187
    43. Pisinger, V. S. C., Møller, S. P., Andersen, S., & Tolstrup, J. S. (2023). Perceived parental alcohol problems and later dropout and grade point average in high school: A register-based follow-up study. Drug and Alcohol Review, 42(4), 848–858. https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13617
    44. Quin, D. (2017). Longitudinal and contextual associations between teacher–student relationships and student engagement: A systematic review. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), 345–387. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316669434
    45. Reith-Hall, E. (2022). The teaching and learning of communication skills for social work students: A realist synthesis protocol. Systematic Reviews, 11(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-02125-w
    46. Rodrigues, L. S., Gontijo, T. L., Cavalcante, R. B., de Oliveira, P. P., & Duarte, S. J. H. (2018). The evasion in a management health specialization course in the distance modality. Interface - Comunicação, Saúde, Educação, 22(66), 889–901. https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-57622017.0129
    47. Sharpe, A. S. (2019). “Mine is an atypical case”: An analysis of life stories about the experience of higher education drop-out. International Journal of Higher Education, 8(6), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v8n6p144
    48. Sharpe, S. A. (2021). Representations of four degrees at the University of Buenos Aires and their link to dropout rates. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación Superior, 12, 1–3. https://doi.org/10.22201/iisue.20072872e.2021.12.4
    49. Shuja, A., Ali, A., Khan, S. S. A., Burki, S. B., & Bilal, S. (2022). Perspectives on the factors affecting students’ dropout rate during COVID-19: A case study from Pakistan. SAGE Open, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221097378
    50. UNESCO. (2008). School attendance and enrolment – Global trends and projections. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
    51. UNICEF. (2023). UNICEF, for every child. https://www.unicef.org/
    52. Valencia-Arias, A., Chalela, S., Cadavid-Orrego, M., Gallegos, A., Benjumea-Arias, M., & Rodríguez-Salazar, D. Y. (2023). University dropout model for developing countries: A Colombian context approach. Behavioral Sciences (Basel), 13(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13050382
    53. Vargas Valle, E. D. (2023). The school incorporation of international migrants in Mexico, 2020 (Vol. ke-41).
    54. Veen, E. J., Pijpker, R., & Hassink, J. (2023). Understanding educational care farms as outdoor learning interventions for children who have dropped out of school in the Netherlands. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 23(3), 323–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2021.2011340
    55. Wagnsson, S., Gustafsson, H., Libäck, J., & Podlog, L. W. (2021). Lessons learned from a multi-level intervention program to reduce Swedish female floorballers’ dropout rate. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 12(4), 226–244. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2020.1850576
    56. Woldehanna, T., Endale, K., Hamory, J., & Baird, S. (2021). Absenteeism, dropout, and on-time school completion of vulnerable primary school students in Ethiopia: Exploring the role of adolescent decision-making power in the household, exposure to violence, and paid and unpaid work (Vol. ke-33). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
    57. Zegeye, A. F., Wolde, H. F., Mekonnen, H. S., Asmamaw, T., Wassie, G. T., & Sisay, M. M. (2024). Spatial distribution and determinants of measles vaccination dropout among under-five children in Ethiopia: A spatial and multilevel analysis of 2019 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. PLOS ONE, 19(7), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305393
    58. Zevulun, D., Zijlstra, A. E., Post, W. J., & Knorth, E. J. (2021). A qualitative study into the reintegration of vulnerable migrant children and families after return to Kosovo: Findings from a follow-up. Children and Youth Services Review, 125, 105991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.105991
    59. Zulaika, G., Nyothach, E., van Eijk, A. M., Obor, D., Mason, L., Alexander, K. T., & Phillips-Howard, P. A. (2022). Impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on adolescent pregnancy and school dropout among secondary schoolgirls in Kenya. BMJ Global Health, 7(1), e007666. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007666

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors

How to cite

Nurhaliza, W. S., Sarwoprasodjo, S., Fatchiya, A., & Suharjito, D. (2025). Narrative of school dropouts in rural areas: A systematic review. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 9(2), 2026064. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2026064
  • Article viewed - 732
  • PDF downloaded - 414